What Goes In My Costco Cart?

What Goes In My Costco Cart?

As our family has grown, so has our food budget. Turns out, 6 people eat a lot of food! Early in the year we made the switch to doing most of our grocery shopping at Costco. We’ve had a membership for years, but would only shop maybe once a month. Now its nearly every week, sometimes more if I forget something! Thankfully, we have a really great Costco just a few minutes away. And with this switch, we also upped our membership, and now earn cash back too, which is a nice bonus!

Not only do we consume more amounts of food with 4 hungry kids, we also consume large amounts of healthy food. If you aren’t careful, and watch prices, healthy food can be more expensive, and we’ve found that regular prices on healthier items are better at Costco. I still watch the flyers in the other grocery stores for really great sales, but these days, most of our food comes from Costco.

I thought I would share what we buy, breaking it down to weekly, monthly and only a couple times a year. (Prices are in Canadian dollars)

Purchased weekly or bi-weekly:

Nano Yogurt Drinks (24 pack) $10.89

Astro Smooth yogurt (24 pack) $5.59

Oikos Greek yogurt (24 pack) $12.79 (reg. price $15.99)

Hummus (2x565g) $6.99

Naan Crisps $6.69

Dempsters Whole Wheat bread (3 loaves) $4.99

Kirkland precooked chicken breast strips (2 pack) $14.99

Strawberries (2lbs) $4.59

2% milk (4L) $4.25

Eggs (18) $3.89

Ground turkey (4 x 500g) $19.36

Bananas $1.59

Baby romaine (11oz container) $3.69

Cliff Protein Builder Bars (18 bars) $19.79

Purchased monthly:

Folgers Ground Coffee (1.36kg) $11.99

Black Diamond cheese strings (40 pack) $11.99 (reg. price $14.99)

Apple juice (6 2L bottles) $11.89

Tostitos Salsa (2 1.2L bottles) $8.99

Kirkland Signature Chewy granola bars (60 bars) $8.99

Nutrigrain Bars (40 bars) $8.99

Kraft Parmesan Cheese (680g) $10.99 (reg. price $13.99)

Apple sauce pouches (36 pack) $12.69

Nutella (2 x 950g) $13.99

Purchased every few months (sizes and prices not available, as I haven’t bought any of these recently):

Arrowroot cookies

Quaker Quick Oats

SunRype Fruit to go bars

Orville Redenbacher popcorn kernels

Parchment Paper

Aluminum Foil

Ziploc bags (sandwich and freezer size)

Dawn dish soap

Soft Soap liquid hand soap

Kirkland Dishwasher Pods

I listed the prices and sizes because I know some of you are savvy shoppers and will want to compare prices. These prices aren’t always cheaper than a sale price at a local grocery store, but the sizes of these items work for our family. And remember, these are only good deals if you use up the entire product before it expires! I used to buy laundry soap from Costco, but noticed the soap became less effective the longer it sat opened, so I stopped buying the giant jugs they sell, even though the price was much better. I also don’t care for their brand of toilet paper, and instead will stock up with several months worth when our preferred brand is on sale at Walmart. And of course, we do eat other things than just what I listed above. Check out my weekly meal plans, and you will see lots of other foods! I plan my dinners around what is on sale at my favourite grocery store, so other meats and veggies are purchased in the quantities we need for that week, and at great sale prices.

And of course there is so much more we buy there, including our new kitchen table, vacuum cleaners, gas, clothing, rugs, gifts for family and friends, movie passes, amusement park tickets…really, it’s our go to for nearly everything!